I have visited Chiesa Nuova – Nostra Signora della Varicella – only a handful of times but I’m not sure I ever saw it with the lights on for a liturgy. It was mind-numbingly beautiful and the two of us could only stare at each other, speechless.

This church is associated with the Oratorians of St. Philip Neri, who is buried here in a chapel dedicated to him, alongside relics of many other saints, including St. Augustine. One of the Oratorian Fathers said Mass that night and gave a heartfelt, very beautiful and extremely inspiring homily. I wish I could have done simultaneous translation for Blanche

I told Blanche I wanted to find the priest - we learned his name was Fr. Maurizio – to thank him for his words. On our way to the sacristy we stopped at the St. Philip Neri chapel. If something could have amazed us more than the church, it was the sacristy – its sheer size, the beauty of the décor and the overpowering amount of wood, with all its warm elegance.

Fr. Maurizio was not in the sacristy but was speaking with a group of faithful, and I did have occasion to thank him for his homily.

I did not have my camera, but I’d like to share the magnificence of Chiesa Nuova (new church) with you via their website. The first link will take you on a virtual tour – be prepared to be awed! The second link has information about the church in English.

http://www.vallicella.org/visita_virtuale/cn.html

http://www.vallicella.org/english/

POPE CELEBRATES MASS FOR DECEASED CARDINALS AND BISHOPS

The Holy Father Saturday morning, at the high altar of St. Peter’s Basilica, presided at a concelebrated Mass for the cardinals and bishops who died in the course of the past year. This is a traditional Mass that takes place every year during the early days of November when the Church marks All Saints Day and All Souls Day. During his homily the Pope named the ten cardinals who died this past year.

The Pope said “the liturgy of the past few days has helped us to experience intensely” the “Communion of Saints and the commemoration of the faithful departed. In particular,” he said, “visits to gravesides have allowed us to renew bonds with loved ones who have left us; death, paradoxically, preserves what life can not hold. How our deceased lived, what they loved, feared and hoped for, what they rejected, we discover in a very singular way from the graves, which are almost like a mirror of their existence, of their world: they call to us and lead us to re-establish a dialogue which death has placed in crisis. Thus, cemeteries are a kind of assembly point, in which the living meet their dead and with them rediscover the bonds of communion that death could not break.

“And here in Rome,” continued Benedict, “in those peculiar cemeteries that are the catacombs, we feel, as in no other place, the deep bonds with ancient Christianity, to which we feel so close. As we enter the corridors of the catacombs - as well as those of the cemeteries of our cities and our countries - it is as if we cross an immaterial threshold and enter into communication with those kept within, their past, made of joys and sorrows, losses and hopes. This occurs because death is still relevant to man today just as then, and even if many things of the past have become alien to us, death is still the same.”

“Faced with this reality,” explained Pope Benedict, “human beings of all ages look for a glimmer of light that brings hope, that still speaks of life, and visits to cemeteries also express this desire. But how do we as Christians respond to the question of death? We respond with faith in God, with a look of solid hope that is based on the Death and Resurrection of Jesus Christ. Then death opens to life, to eternal life, which is not an infinite duplication of the present time, but something entirely new. Our faith teaches us that true immortality to which we aspire is not an idea, a concept, but a relationship of full communion with the living God: it is being in His hands, in His love, and becoming in Him one with all the brothers and sisters that He created and redeemed, with the whole of creation.”

BEFORE BEING A COMMAND, LOVE IS A GIFT

Pope Benedict appeared at his study window Sunday to recite the Angelus with a large group of faithful in St. Peter’s Square, notwithstanding cloudy, gray skies and intermittent rain.

In refletions before the Marian prayer, he spoke of the days Gospel of Mark which “offers us the teaching of Jesus about the greatest commandment, the commandment of love, which is twofold: love God and love neighbour.” He said “those who live a profound relationship with God, just as the child becomes capable of loving from a good relationship with his mother and father, may put the commandment of love fully into practice.”

The Pope quoted Saint John of Avila, whom he recently proclaimed a doctor of the Church, who wrote a treatise on the love of God: “the cause that mostly pushes our hearts to love of God is considering deeply the love that He had for us ... This, beyond any benefit, pushes the heart to love; because he who gives something of benefit to another, gives him something he possesses; but he who loves, gives himself with everything he has, until he has nothing left to give.”

“Before being a command,” said Benedict, “love is a gift, a reality that God allows us to know and experience, so that, like a seed, it can also germinate within us and develop throughout our life. If the love of God has planted deep roots in a person, then he is able to love even those who do not deserve it, as does God toward us. The father and mother do not love their children only when they deserve love: they love them always, though of course, they make them understand when they are wrong. From God we learn to want only the good and never the bad.

“Love of God and love of neighbor are inseparable and are in mutual relationship.” Said the Holy Father. “Jesus did not invent one nor the other, but revealed that they are, after all, a single commandment.”

VATILEAKS TRIAL, PART TWO

According to a decree issued by Giuseppe Dalla Torre, president of the Tribunal of Vatican City State, the first hearing in the trial of Claudio Sciarpelletti will take place today at 9 a.m. Sciarpelletti, who is accused of complicity with Paolo Gabriele in the theft of private papal and other sensitive documents, was sent for trial by the examining magistrate on 13 August, the first time his name was disclosed. The hearing will take place in the audience hall of the Tribunal of Vatican City State, and the judicial bench will be composed of Giuseppe Dalla Torre, president, and Paolo Papanti-Pelletier and Venerando Marano, judges.

The trial of Paolo Gabriele, the former butler to Pope Benedict XVI, began on October 1. On that day, Claudio Sciarpelletti, an employee of the Secretariat of State, was represented by his lawyer, Gianluca Benedetti who had previously requested, and the judges agreed, that Sciarpelletti’s trial take place separately from Gabriele’s at a later date.

Gabriele testified October 2 and declared himself to “be innocent of the charge of aggravated theft but guilty of having betrayed the trust placed in me by the Holy Father whom I feel I love as a son.” Four days later he was found guilty of theft and sentenced to three years in prison but that was reduced to 18 months for having no previous record and for good behavior in his service prior to the theft.

SYNOD ON EVANGELIZATION: FINAL PROPOSITION 7

Proposition 7 : NEW EVANGELIZATION AS A PERMANENT MISSIONARY DIMENSION OF THE CHURCH

It is proposed that the Church proclaim the permanent world-wide missionary dimension of her mission in order to encourage all the particular Churches to evangelize.

Evangelization can be understood in three aspects. Firstly, evangelization ad gentes is the announcement of the Gospel to those who do not know Jesus Christ. Secondly, it also includes the continuing growth in faith that is the ordinary life of the Church. Finally, the New Evangelization is directed especially to those who have become distant from the Church.

In so doing, all the particular Churches will be encouraged to value and integrate all their various agents and capabilities. At the same time, each particular Church must have the freedom to evangelize according to her own traits and traditions, always in unity with the proper Bishops’ Conference or the Synod of the Eastern Catholic Church. Such a world-wide mission will respond to the action of the Holy Spirit, as in a new Pentecost, through a call issued by the Roman Pontiff, who invites all faithful to visit all families and bring the life of Christ to all human situations.

Write to Joan at:
joansrome@ewtn.com 

CLICK HERE FOR PRACTICAL INFORMATION ON VISITING THE VATICAN.

View Joan's videos at : www.youtube.com/joansrome